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Miami Dolphins no closer to contract extension with Paul Soliai after meeting with agent

Dolphins general manager Jeff Ireland finally met with the agent for nose tackle Paul Soliai at the NFL Combine, but the two sides left the meeting far apart on contract negotiations.

Soliai, entering his sixth NFL season, wants to cash in on a long-term contract after earning $12.476 million last year as the Dolphins’ Franchise Player. But the Dolphins are transitioning away from the traditional 3-4 defense to more of a 4-3 base defense, and don’t want to invest significant resources in a player who didn’t have a sack last year and played in just 450 of 1,126 defensive snaps (39.96 percent), according to Pro Football Focus.

The Dolphins, who currently have about $13 million in salary cap space, would like to bring him back on a relatively cheap, short-term contract, but all indications are that Soliai will instead walk away in free agency when it begins on March 13. The Dolphins likely won’t use the Franchise Tag again, which would give him a salary of $14.97 million in 2012.

Soliai’s agent, South Florida-based David Canter, tried to talk contract extension with the Dolphins prior to the September cut-off point (Soliai, as a Franchise Player, only had until Sept. 20 to sign a new contract, per the NFL’s rules), but to little avail. The Dolphins instead will use the money on pass rushers, and are likely candidates to draft a defensive end with the No. 8 pick in April’s draft.

Several teams that run a traditional 3-4 defense could use Soliai — who has developed into one of the best 3-4 nose tackles in the league — including San Diego, Indianapolis and Kansas City.